1. TASTE!  Pick a cake and some dishes that remind people of WINTER?  How can a flavor remind you of winter you ask?  Rich dark flavors like caramel, spice, butterscotch and mint all remind people of Christmas and threfore relating it to winter!  Pick a MINTY flavored desert to finish off; it doesn’t need to be a mega mint blast but what about a rich chocolate minth cake?  Or a nice warm pudding?  No need to go Christmas Dinner all the way but some of the comfoting elements can go a long way.

 2.  COLOR THEME!  Light icy blues, white with chocolate browns and rich reds.  All colors that remind us of cozy winters and nights cuddled up by the fireplace. 

3. ADD ON TOUCHES!   Winter inspired shapes are the easiest way to convey the winter theme.  Snowflakes, the most obvious one, can be used for doilies, sugar snowflakes on the cake, and cutout decorations.  Poinsettas and holly can be strung up and used to accentuate the table centerpieces and room.   Gathered pinecones from the ground, splatter the ends with clear glue and roll them in fake snow or white glitter would be a wonderful table accent.

Damn… now I want this ring. Is it too late to change wedding bands??

Get the white Kayla Clutch for $32 on Ebags.com

What better way to keep your family & friends reminded of your upcoming wedding date than these adorable lil fridge magnets, and even better, if you order the minimum number of 25 they are totally FREE!   Yup, it’s just that easy, just find a design you like from the 100’s of premade designs & pay for the shipping (which is pretty cheap in the US).  Not only do they have business card sized free magnets but 250 free business cards, 100 free postcards (which can also be used for wedding invitations) and sticky notes, all customizable of course!  If you don’t like any of those already made designs, feel free to design your own and upload them.  There is a $5 uploading fee for each graphic or photo BUT, you can use that graphic for multiple items forever.   A cute idea would be uploading a photo of the two of you together with the date & place on it. 

 Just check out VistaPrint.com for tons of free and cheap deals of printed products to keep people notified of your wedding day (AS IF they need reminding, everytime you talk to them you should ALWAYS drop the date, LOL) .

If you’ve even entertained the idea of a Vegas wedding here are some convincing points I’ll make:

1. Wedding and honeymoon in one!  For those of you who have never been to Las Vegas it would be a perfect change to see it plus you don’t have to fly anywhere else for the honeymoon, it’s all outside your hotel doors.

2.  It can be as cheap or as lavish as your budget allows.  It is one of those cites where you can accomodate your whole extended family for under $20 per person per night OR you can spend the downpayment on your future house on a fancy resort.  From cheap all you can eat buffets downtown to Emerils new steakhouse… you make the call.  Either way, you will have a blast.

3.  Cheap entertainment.  Spend hours walking to each hotel on the strip to see their free sights, cheap 2×1 show tix, fun museums and natural attractions like Red Rock Canyon allows everyone to have fun on a budget. 

4.  It’s central for most people.  Sign up to receive news from the Airlines that fly to vegas from your city and you will find tons of great last minute deals.  Fly & stay during the weekdays & you’ll notice it’s cheaper.   

5.  Hotels are competitively priced, due to the sheer number of hotels being offered in the area, they must have deals & promos to attract customers.  If you stay in old downtown, prices can start at $25 per night!

Next Vegas post will be “FINDING YOUR HOTEL ROOM”

Meanwhile check out Las Vegas room prices on hotels.com & see!

Make personlized wedding favors at CafePress.com

Not at all!  If you hit the “CLEARANCE” link at the top right on the site you’ll see some killer deals like sexy tops from $11.99 and  dresses from $19.99.  The dresses they’ve got on special now are the satiny, evening party type dresses but those can always be worn for events before the wedding itself like receptions or dress rehearsal dinners.  Plus you can save them for holiday dinners or Christmas work parties if partnered with a shrug or satin jacket Right now you can get $10 off every $75 you spend, or $20 off every $100 at Fredericks

 I’m CHEAP!  Not to the point where it’s embaressing for everyone else around me, but I do enjoy good value for my money and if there are ways to save yet get the end result and perhaps do a little more work than NO work at all, then I’m all for it!  Remember, you work hard for your money so spend it well.

 I HATE big traditional weddings.  The ones where you follow all the steps from a big thick book, telling you where to walk, what to say & what type of flowers you need to be carrying.  Think about the original point of having a wedding.  It’s to show your friends and family “hey, this is my chosen life partner and I’m going to publicly state my love for this person!”  THAT IS ALL!! It’s not a contest to see how much you can spend or that you spent 25K on a dress you’ll wear once.  Heck, my parents got married at city hall & that was it!  They are still happily married to this date and it really doesn’t matter if she doesn’t have a 4 caret ring or not… No one should tell you how you want to profess your love for one another… except you.

 I’m CHILL.  I’m a pretty relaxed pers

on and secure.  People feel the need to show off and surround themselves with material good as a way of defining their self worth.   It’s part of the materialism & consumer culture North Americans have grown up with.  It’s your wedding, have FUN, DANCE (unless he absolutely hates dancing) KAROAKE, have a FOOD FIGHT!  Have it the way you want.

 I’m MARRIED.  I got married on February 29, 2008, planned very quickly and on a budget and on a beautiful beach location in Costa Rica.  I had so much fun planning it, saved a lot of money & also learned a lot about where/ how to get all your wedding needs met without spending big bucks, yet still have everything covered!  Some people commented that it was the best / funnest / nicest wedding they’ve ever been to.  Its’ not that I CAN’T spend tons of cash on a wedding, but there’s about 1000 other more important things I’d rather spend that money on, for our future.   Recently, I’ve been teaching others how to find good deals for their upcoming wedding dates so why not just blog about it?